I don’t know about you, but my treestand pack is a train wreck come season’s end. Sandwich bags and Snickers wrappers can be found in every pocket, and my deer calls are strewn about in various compartments along with the rest of my needed in-the-tree gear.
Last season, I vowed to have my pack reorganized before taking to the trees during an early September bowhunt. I didn’t, and it cost me a buck. I eked open an already-too-full of who-knows-what side compartment and slid my rangefinder inside. An hour into my sit, a gorgeous public land 4x4 appeared. When I reached for my rangefinder, the cord snagged on not one but two grunt tubes and sent them falling. One landed square on my aluminum platform and the other tumbled to the ground below. The buck was gone. Lesson learned.
Don’t be me. You have the time. Use it wisely. Develop a system in which every piece of gear has a specific place in your treestand pack. Take the time to experiment by placing different pieces of gear in different compartments until you feel like you have a foolproof system.
Next, go jump in a tree and play with your newly organized pack. See if what you hoped would work does do the job, and take the time to find the pack’s ideal attachment point in the tree. I highly recommend, unless you plan on hanging deer calls, to remove any nylon cords from your calls. Cords tend to snag on zippers and the like.
A pair of packs that will help the “organizationally challenged” are the Badlands Timber and Mystery Ranch Treehouse. The Timber has a drop-down storage flap with a pair of organizational mesh pockets, a pair of front-storage pockets and a wide, main compartment. The Treehouse has a sizeable, stay-open design and due to the pack’s rigidity, features a lid that allows for immediate access to necessary gear. The lid also creates a shelf to place need-right-now items.
